Chest, Vol 69, 10-14, Copyright © 1976 by American College of Chest Physicians

ARTICLES

Isosorbide dinitrate and cardiovascular adaptation to exercise

L Hurwitz, J Naughton, PA Gorman and A Miller

Sixteen men with well-documented angina pectoris and without previous myocardial infarction performed a multistage exercise stress test to determine their levels of exercise-induced limitations, characterized by onset of chest discomfort or electrocardiographic ischemic changes, or both. Following a control study, each subject was assigned randomly to either a placebo- or vasodilator-treated group, received chewable medication, and was retested 30 minutes after chewing the medication. Blood pressure, heart rate, and electrocardiographic changes were measured during rest, peak exercise, and recovery. A phonocardiogram, carotid-pulse contour, and single-lead electrocardiogram were recorded simultaneously at supine rest before and immediately after exercise, and systolic time intervals were measured. Results indicated that chewable isosorbide dinitrate reduced systolic blood pressure and the triple product (systolic blood pressure X heart rate X ejection time) significantly during rest and reduced the left ventricular ejection time corrected for heart rate both at rest and peak exercise; no significant differences were observed in the placebo group. The ability to achieve an increased workload was observed in both groups, and the threshold for ischemic manifestations occurred at comparable triple- product levels in both during pretreatment and posttreatment studies.